UN report: Countries’ plans will not protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030 — Climate Home News
In Yerevan, Armenia, ahead of the COP17 conference, a UN report was released stating that the first national biodiversity conservation plans are insufficient to achieve global targets by 2030. Even if current commitments are fulfilled, 26% of terrestrial ecosystems and only 12% of marine ecosystems will be protected — below the 30% target.
As Climate Home News reports, the State of Biodiversity Action report was prepared by a group of technical experts from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. It will form the basis of COP17 negotiations, which will begin in the Armenian capital. Conference participants will for the first time comprehensively assess progress in implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in 2022.
Lag in ocean protection
According to the report, about 19% of terrestrial ecosystems are currently protected — two percentage points more than in 2020. At the same time, approximately 10% of the World Ocean has some protection status. In coastal waters under national jurisdiction, this figure is 23%, while a significant part of deep-sea areas remains unprotected.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that fewer than half of government plans are aligned with the trajectory for achieving the framework’s targets. He stressed that the “war on nature is not yet over.”
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Financing and subsidies
Developing countries insist on predictable and accessible financing to implement nature conservation commitments. According to the OECD, wealthy states failed to meet the target of providing $20 billion annually in international public funding for nature protection by 2025: in 2023–2025, the figure was about $16 billion per year.
By 2030, the framework provides for $30 billion in direct annual funding from developed countries and the mobilization of $200 billion from all sources. The report also notes slow progress in redirecting subsidies harmful to nature, including those that encourage excessive fertilizer use, the production and consumption of new fossil fuels, and overfishing.
By the time data collection was completed, 89 national biodiversity strategies and action plans had been submitted, while national targets had been received from 162 countries. The document assesses measures concerning all 23 global targets, but does not record a fully positive picture for any of them.
